The follow-up game: will Washington be able to turn the tide of the series with Carolina

Carolina defeated Washington in the fourth game of the second round of the NHL playoffs and is one step away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals (5-2 and 3-1 in the series). Alexander Ovechkin scored his first goal in this confrontation between the neighbors in the division, but this event did not please the captain of the Capitals. So far, the series has lived up to the worst expectations of Ovi's fans. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

Ovechkin was neutralized

Ovechkin was Washington's best marksman in the first—round series with Montreal, scoring four goals and five points in five games. In three games with Carolina, the forward did not show any effective actions and did not score once on eight shots, four the day before yesterday in the Role.

Hurricanes head coach Rod Brindamore has long been distinguished by his hockey with speed and pressure with a lot of time in attack, aggression and overlapping zones in defense. Ovechkin, 39, was deprived of space and harassed by power wrestling, which was especially successful by another number eight, 40—year-old defender Brent Burns. This did not completely rule out scoring chances at Frederik Andersen's goal, but it helped his team in the first home game to dry up the best club in the conference in the regular season with the most dangerous sniper in history (4-0).

"They didn't leave him alone [alone], but Ovie was still free, we were lucky that Freddie Andersen helped out," said the Carolina head coach. "Alexander can't be stopped. You just kind of need to know that he's there, he's going to get his way. One can only hope that there won't be many such moments.

Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery replaced Ovechkin's second outfield forward with Dylan Strome after a 1-2 home loss at the start of the series. Instead of Anthony Beauvillier, the specialist brought back Alexei Protas, who missed the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs. The Belarusian in this combination started the season brightly and then complemented it if necessary. In the third game, the Moscow team with Ovechkin on the ice in equal formations surpassed the leading link of the opponent with Sebastian Aho and Andrey Svechnikov in shots, scoring chances and moments of high danger.

"It was probably their best game,— Carbury said. — They had a chance after the faceoff when attacking from the other side, [Ovechkin] had a couple of chances in front of the goal. I think, in general, only Stromer's unit relies heavily on entering the zone and creating chances after such a game. And you just won't get many chances like that against Carolina, with its control of free space and the size of the defenders. Therefore, they have to work very, very hard in the offensive zone on the forecheck, create a throw-in after the game, whatever it is. You're going to have to beat someone. And it's hard. So they just need to keep working. Every night won't be perfect.

Victory calculation: Ovechkin and McDavid will be eliminated, and Bobrovsky will go further

Predictions for the second round of the Stanley Cup

From the beginning of the fourth match, Washington again tried to outperform the opponent in activity, but everything again came down to playing according to the Carolina scenario. The Hurricanes routinely threw the opponent over and killed the guests, while the Capitals blocked many attempts and looked for an opportunity to respond. This time, the hosts opened the scoring not after half of the entire game, but in the middle of the first period. For the third time in a row, the Capital team scored 21 shots in the evening after 14 shots on target at the start of the series. So far, she has managed to score only on her own ice and take the second match with the puck into an empty net (3:1).

The Caps scored twice in the third period in their second game in Raleigh, falling behind by two goals. Defender Jacob Chikran was the first to hit Andersen, who completed the lunge, then Ovechkin, with a shot from the top of the left circle, realized the five-on-three majority draw. At that moment, Dmitry Orlov, a former teammate and close friend of the sniper, hung his head dejectedly on the penalty box bench in the company of one of the heroes of the evening, Taylor Hall. At the same time, the Keynes quickly regained the advantage after conceding goals. Both times, the focus was on Hall, who moved to Carolina in the winter during a high-profile exchange involving Mikko Rantanen. The former Chicago forward first outplayed Logan Thompson in a one-on-one exit after transferring Jack Roslovik to someone else's blue line, and then sent Sean Walker into a counterattack. And Andrey Svechnikov sent the fifth puck into the empty net of the guests. The Russian forward of the Kanes scored for the second time in the series with the Caps, now he has seven goals and eight points in nine games in the playoffs.

Implementation problems

Ovechkin scored for the first time in Washington's series with Carolina and scored his fifth goal in nine games of this playoff. In total, the forward now has 77 goals with 70 assists in 160 games during his career. Alexander passed one of his favorite hockey players, Mario Lemieux, in the historical list of the best snipers of the Stanley Cup. The Russian has risen to 12th place and is one step away from Jaromir Jagr. Jean Beliveau (79 goals), Claude Lemieux (80) and Maurice Richard (82) open the top 10 so far. In terms of the number of matches, the Capitals captain is now in the top 80 and has left behind, among others, the legend of the Hurricanes, Brindamore.

Chasing such a story is clearly not a concern for the 2018 Stanley Cup winner right now. On the agenda is the preservation of the dream of a second championship and the continuation of the series on the verge of relegation.

"Yes, I think we had a very solid start in the fourth game,— Ovechkin said. — If you look at the previous game and this one, we had the opportunity to score right away, we just had to find a way to score a goal, you know. Obviously [Andersen] feels [confident in the game] now, but we had to find [and score] dirty goals, rebounds, touch-ups. Yes, well, now we need to take a deep breath. The series is not finished. We just need to get back here.

"When you score a goal against Washington, everything smokes inside."

Stanley Cup winner, world champion Dmitry Orlov - about Russian partners on "Carolina", the desire to continue his career in the NHL and the return of Kuznetsov

Alexander also spoke about the problems of the majority and the implementation in general.

— You know, let's keep this between us. Obviously, we have to play better. Yes, we will work on it. Plus they also block shots. Obviously, when there is an opportunity to shoot, you have to find a way to get [on target] or send to the goalkeeper [on the spot], find a rebound, some dirty puck. As I said, we played a very good first period, we just have to find an opportunity to score. When you're leading, it's a completely different game.

The fifth match of the Washington— Carolina series will be held on the night of Friday, May 16 (Moscow time).